Fun In The Snow

Here's a flyer I did recently for Concordia University's Outdoor club. I had a lot of fun with this one since I rarely get a chance to go all cartoony.

Practice

Trying to get something to look right...

Kitty Pryde

Hey look at this: It's the X-men's Kitty Pryde in 1980 before she joined the group. That's a comic I'd read--Kitty Pryde: The Early Years.

Artie Lange

I'm just finishing reading Artie Lange's "Too Fat To Fish". It's been disturbing, poignant,sad, and hilarious.
I've heard him recount some of these stories before, and as well-written as the book was it was the first time I've felt like I'd prefer listening to the audiobook. He is an amazing storyteller, and somehow with his self-deprecating manner and laughter at his own predicament the stories of his degenerate lifestyle sound more ribald than sad when they're heard in his Rusty-the-Tin-Man voice.

Hayden Panetierre

I did this drawing the other morning as a warm-up. It's part of a drawing jam over at drawingboard.org.

Y'know I started with the eye on the left, thought it looked about the right size, then fleshed out the face, did the figure--only to find I'd run out of paper top and bottom. Too bad, because I wanted to finish it.

Hungry Ghosts

Here's the cover to the new webcomic I'll be doing soon. Story, pencils, and colours by me.

Newf Friends Calendar

The 2009 Newf Friends Newf Rescue calendars are ready to go!

The calendars are the same style as we used last year for the Canadian Newf Rescue calendars--extra large 12 x 18, high quality, high gloss paper, metal spiral binding across the top and over 50 full colour images!

Most of you will recognize at least some of this year's gorgeous Newfoundland Dog models who include Matilda, Marin, Darcy, Volare, Murphy, Mary, Neptune (my handsome boy), Ozzy, Bower, Zoë, Caera, and of course no Newf rescue calendar would be complete without everyone's favourite Basset hound, Floyd.

Calendars can be picked up in Bancroft, ON at West Wind or purchased online.

All proceeds go directly to Newf Friends in Ontario, Canada to assist Newfoundland Dogs and Newf mixes in need. Newf Friends is a foster based Newfoundland Dog Rescue group working in partnership with the wonderful team of volunteers at HART.

Thanks for your support!

Eric The Midget

Eric the Midget arrives at the Sirius building with the winner of his Modeling Contract Challenge.

"I'd like...you to meet...Candy, Sternnn..."

Bye for now.

(and yes, I listen to Howard Stern a lot while I draw!)

Evolution Of A Page

Wow, that was a long hiatus. It's been a busy summer but I'm back at the drawing table and ready to go.

Here's a preview page from BrainStorm and a description of how I get a page done:

I made preformatted sheets on 8.5 x 11 that are measured out at the exact scale of a reduced 11x17 art board with guidelines for trim and lettering. This allows me to thumbnail at the size the comic will be printed at. It helps me to visualize what the final work will look like. At this stage I read the script and rough out the panels and compositions and block in word balloons to see how the whole page will flow.


After I hear back from Robert on what I have so far I make any necessary changes noted and start to work up the figures and iron out where the panel borders are. I blow up this page to a 10x15 work area and go to my lightbox.


Once I've traced my roughs on to an art board (either a Strathmore bristol or Xerox Digital Expressions depending on how I'm inking) I move to the regular drawing table and start to pencil. I rough in with a 4H wooden pencil and then finish with a 2H lead holder.


If there are no more changes it's time to ink. I ink mostly with a W&N Series 7 #2 brush and Dr. Martin's ink. I do some details with a crowquill and straight lines are drawn with a ruler and a Micron. On this page I just drew one spaceship and then made a brush from that in Photoshop to fill in the rest.

I e-mail the page to Javi LaParra all the way in Guatemala and he works his magic from there.

Next step: Lettering....

BrainStorm Designs

Just thought I'd post a few sneak peeks at the designs I'm working on for the upcoming comic BrainStorm. I'll post some penciled pages shortly.

Sketch Book Dump #3

Nothing original here. Embarassingly these are all actually swipes. Sometimes before I've got a lot of drawing ahead of me I like to warm up with a page of quick sketching. No thinking just manual labour. I grab whatever is nearby and start the pencil moving. I fill an 11x17 page in about 10 minutes and pray that I learned something. It's also good to look at what you swiped and try to figure out why yours suck and the originals look so good. These swipes are John Byrne--I just finished reading the Essential x-Men that has the first half of his run there. So good.

Post-Its, #1

A fun exercise: Take a quick look at a stranger and then make them up as a character on a scrap of paper without looking back at them.

Jewel Thief

I've been quiet posting here for a while but I have a few things going on behind the scenes! More on that later. Here's a sneak preview of some pencils I've done for an unnamed book. It's about a gypsy performer/jewel thief in 1960's Europe.

Town Banners

Just thought I would post some of the designs I have been toying with for some town banners. I wanted a sense of history with a touch of modernity or something like that. This is where I am at for now...

Animal Friends Passed

Here are some older pencil drawings done of some of the pets I've had who are no longer with me:

This is Quentin my first dog ever--a crazy pit bull mix I rescued from the pound. The best $30 I ever spent.

This is Wicca my 170lb Newfoundland. She was a massive girl and obviously the boss dog!

Cosmo my wife's cat she rescued from a closing shelter before I met her. She was one lucky cat.

Ink Happy

How to: Ruin some alright pencils with way too much ink!

Late Night

Stopped for a 1am coffee break. Well not coffee. No don't ask what. Okay, tea. Green tea with pomegranate juice. Don't roll your eyes. Hey, you asked.

What's on the iPod? Lexicon. Youth Is Yours album. It's great you would like it.


What am I drawing? A government pamphlet decrying road rage or something? All I know is it has been 9 pages pencilled, inked, scanned, prepped, and lettered in 14 days. I am on fire.

This is why you always look in the backseat.

Let It Snow

Last year we were spoiled with very little snow. I went mountain biking last Christmas Eve! This year is a little different. We've been getting massive downfall after downfall. How much snow?

This much snow.


The view from my studio window. I wish I skied.

So after a long hike with the dogs through trails 3-4 feet deep with snow I came home and wanted to draw something that took me away from all the cold. CBR had a drawing jam for Caitlin Fairchild. Boy, was I was glad to draw this: San Diego, palm trees, surfers (obviously returning from a great day out on the water), an awesome microbus. Oh, and Caitlin Fairchild.

Kids these days and their darn iPods!

It's done super light and loose in 4H. I can't wait to flesh it out but I've got a really busy schedule in the coming weeks. It's going to be a very long winter so this will be a great diversion come February (the worst month up here for weather).

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Elementals

The drawing jam for December over at drawingboard.org is Elemental. So what better than the greatest eighties' super team the Elementals?

Elementals was my first Comic Shop comic book. My first time away from Marvel books picked up at the variety store.

I'd always been a fan of this Bill Willingham guy who did these great drawings in the AD&D manuals (stop laughing, I know). Then I see his name on this comic book. I was blown away. This guy's art had reminded me of John Byrne on X-Men.

But I was surprised to discover that his greatest strength was his writing. The Elementals was very adult, and violent. Characters you rooted for could be killed. Horribly. It had impact. The artwork was great and everyone dressed like they were on Miami Vice. The first 12 issues were perfect.

Unfortunately the publisher, Comico, ran into serious financial trouble, and found themselves $750,000 in debt. When the new owner took over things got worse and I believe he even bounced the check when he bought the rights to Elementals. He does still have them though and for whatever reason has turned down all offers even apparently one from Jim Lee. Sadly it seems there will be no future for Elementals.


Edited to add: A lot of people are confusing my early 80's Elementals with the early 90's Elementals. The early 90's series was not under the control of Willingham and featured nudity and swimsuit and lingerie specials. Not the series I mean. Honestly. I mean the very first series that started in 1983. This is the cover to number one:

Dog Days #2

Just some more quick drawings of the gang...

Dog Days #1

Here are some drawings of some of my dogs. Speed was of importance with these. More to come...

Newfoundland Dog Rescue

Those of you who know my wife and I know that our love of Newfoundland Dogs has lead us to become involved in Newfoundland Dog Rescue in a number of capacities.

Each year we put together a calendar featuring Sandra's photos of Newfoundland dogs and all of the proceeds from the sale of the calendar go to Newf Rescue Canada Inc. currently located in Whitby, Ontario.

The 2008 calendars are ready to go, and it's our best calendar yet! Calendars can be picked up in our store, or directly from the newf rescue, or ordered online at our website.

For more info about Newf Rescue groups across Canada, why not check out our new informational website.

Thank you for supporting the Newf Rescue!

Sketch Book Dump #2

Here is some more junk...

A girl wearing some eighties ski goggles for some reason.

A retro Iron Man.

A wolf.

Sketch Book Dump #1

Here are some drawings from my sketchbook from the last month or so...

A half-finished Batman.

The Hulk vs. Bi-Beast

Adapted from a Jimenez X-Men cover.

Quinlan Vos from the Dark Horse Star Wars series.

Around the Town

During some nice fall weather last week I was able to get some life sketching done around my town. I have trouble drawing "funny" so I tried to lighten these up a bit. Done in pencil on site and inked by brush back at the studio.

Sidekick

The November Jam over at drawingboard.org is Sidekicks. I'm feeling pretty unimaginitive so all I was able to come up with was Robin. Oh, or maybe Kato. Green Hornet's Kato, not OJ's. That would require finding a reference though.
Here's my Robin and Batman...

Duke the Pig

We had a friend come over for dinner the other night whom we hadn't seen over the summer. In that time she somehow managed to acquire a pot-belly pig.

Here's one of my dogs, Neptune, taste-testing Duke:

This bacon is undercooked.

My wife holding the pig:

No we are not getting one.

Pigs can be quite aggressive, and though Duke isn't like that at all, I guess he had enough of a 120lb. dog licking his back for 2 hours and decided to do something about it. And while Neptune can come across as a brave and stoic dog he does lean towards high-pitched hysterics in times of stress. Think Magnum P.I. in a haunted house. From the screaming I assumed that Duke had somehow bit into Neptune's left ventricle, but on closer inspection (on the safety of the sofa) no mark at all was found. Neptune did leave the pig alone for the rest of the evening. And will forever.

Anyway, here's how I'm sure Neptune will describe Duke to all his dog friends...